miss antsy pantsy

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Today, Elisia is Miss antsy-in-my-pantsy.

Never felt so nervous, yet have that “I’m so raring to go” feeling in a long time. All because we changed textbooks for JAPN204. We started using the 中級日本語 textbook today and with that, we needed to memorize about 8 short lines of conversation text to do role play in class. I hate presentations so I was all ready to be the first to go. Get it over and done with. Then we had to hold a conversation with the person next to us based on a chosen subject/question. I managed to get my idea across pretty decently…ok, with one or two broken sentences. But, I was definitely feeling more confident in speaking.

I think we’ve pretty much reached the stage where it’s no longer intensive/extensive learning of vocabulary and grammar, but more into actually using what we’ve learnt to hold conversations. Something which I need to practise and do more. I also realised that it is ok to use simple sentence structures to say what I want to say as long as the other person can get a general idea. It’s better than wanting to jump into using complex sentences, not knowing how to, then getting all frustrated, and finally giving up and speaking in English instead. And of course, I need to feel more confident and less afraid of making mistakes.

Anyway, directly after JAPN204, I had ADV483. There was a quiz today so I had to rush off quickly. (The buildings for both classes are a distance apart.) All that rushing made me feel all the more jumpy, plus the fact that I wasn’t too sure I had prepared well for the quiz.

Alright, that’s about all I’m going to say for today. Need to get some sleep especially since I think I’m about to fall sick. My nose was all blocked and drippy last night. However, before I go, here’s an interesting picture. This is what I call a “minefield.” That’s ice and not snow by the way. The unsuspecting person who walks over it will find it is VERY slippery and you’ll be lucky if you don’t find yourself on your butt. There are lots of these “minefields” all around since the last few days have been pretty cold. It snows, then melts a little, and the water freezes again as the temperature drops.

It’s supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow…

the bad and the not so bad

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Stupid 拾って。You are the cause of my losing one mark for nothing. Of all things you had to be ひろって。Now, you are the cause of my misery. I want to bite and throw a hissy fit…because it’s my first JAPN204 exam and if it doesn’t go well in the beginning, it can only get worse. We are going to use the 中級日本語 textbook on Monday. We will have to memorize and act out short passages. There will be a shitload of kanji to remember. I don’t have good memory. Argh.

On a lighter note, Christina gave me one of those My Beauty Diary masks yesterday. 谢谢你! 我爱死你了! :woot: It was quite funny. I was going to ask her if she could help me buy some of those masks when she went back to Taiwan during summer. Turns out, she uses them. She had a few left and decided to give one to me. :heart: Will get her to buy more when she goes back to Taiwan. Yay yay yay~~~

It’s too expensive for me to join those Singapore sprees and have them send it to me in USA. And anyway, I wouldn’t be going home this summer so joining the spree would not be an option. Then I had the brilliant idea of asking one of my Taiwanese friends here.

watashi wa xx-san ni ijimeraremashita

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We read a passage in Japanese class about bullying incidents in school. I came up with scenarios/reasons for bullying – mostly in the perspective of a girl.

Elementary school: Bullying cases would probably be the I beat, pinch, pull your hair kinda nonsense. Usually kids go crying to the teacher saying so-and-so bullied me. Milder cases would probably just end with a “I tell my mummy you bully me” or “I don’t friend you.”

Middle school (probably around upper primary/lower secondary): Girls would probably bully other girls out of jealousy? The I-just-can’t-stand-her-face issue.

High school: Girls bully other girls probably because that bitch stole my boyfriend.

College: Sensei said that bullying cases are rare since college students are considered adults and know better. Oh no, I think at this stage girls bully other girls because that slut slept with my boyfriend.

Anyway, since we were on the topic on bullying, Jayce told me that his EALC250 Professor told the class about a case where a 7-8 year old Japanese kid beheaded another kid and hung the head on the school gate. Okaaaayyy…that kid’s psycho. もっと怖い~~~

giveaways

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Annie and Michelle are giving away stuff and it looks good. Ever since I bought a bag from them, I’ve been getting updates about their sprees and pre-orders. They also have a shop on Etsy.

Head over here for the cool giveaways.

oh yes, i am a “great” cook

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Let’s be honest here…

  1. This entry is for Nuffnang’s contest.
  2. Everyone knows I don’t have much cooking skills, so the entry can’t be about my favourite cooking experience.
  3. If you couldn’t get the hint from number 2, the entry is about my disastrous cooking experience.

This happened a long time back when all I knew how to cook was rice, omelette, instant mee, and canned food. There was some leftover spaghetti in the fridge, but no leftover sauce. I was to call Mum in the office to get instructions on how to prepare the sauce and that was what I did.

Thaw the meat out in hot water. Mix in some corn starch. Pour in the spaghetti sauce from the bottle. Add a little sesame oil for that extra fragrance. I never had the knack to know how much of something to add to make the food taste “just right.” I had to get really specific instructions. Like exactly how much water to thaw the meat out. Exactly how much of corn starch. Well, you get the idea.

So, all I remembered was everything that needed to be added in small amounts was one teaspoon. (Or so I thought.) Cooked everything as instructed. All was well until the last part, adding the sesame oil…

One teaspoon. That was how much I put in. After that, the whole sauce just smelled of sesame oil. Weird. Mind you, I couldn’t figure out what I did was wrong, but I ate whatever I cooked anyway.

That was when Sis came along and told me it was supposed to be…one drop of sesame oil. Wow, I’m such an idiot. :sweat:

Now that you’ve read my embarassing little story, go watch “Julie & Julia.”

comments please?

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After a long long long long time, I finally reinstalled my ftp program and fixed the captcha issue that was preventing people from viewing the special code and commenting on my blog. Now, you may comment away~~~

doing new things

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Omg…I can’t believe I haven’t blogged for a long long time.

So I’ve been busy trying new things and unfortunately being the slow learner that I am, I’m seriously battling with my confidence issues. The advice/encouragement I keep close to me to help me find the confidence to push on is from deary and an ex-colleague in Moove Media. Although deary is not a very patient person, he told me that I should tell myself that I can do it and he believes I can. The ex-colleague told me that if I keep being afraid to make mistakes and just keep doing things I already know and am confident of doing right, I will never learn anything new. So, I should challenge myself and do things that I have never done before.

Well, I tried learning to drive in the holidays which unfortunately wasn’t much since I started late and it was a short time back in Singapore. Deary made me drive a little near my aunt’s place when I came back to USA. Ermz…I almost mowed down the little bush on her front lawn.

The other thing I tried is learning to ice-skate. I’m trying very hard to master the little techniques. It’s kind of a pain to see everyone gliding on the ice effortlessly when I’m skating like a penguin who can’t seem to balance properly. But, I’m taking my time to learn and enjoying the short one hour per class. You see, sports and me don’t go together. It’s already a huge step forward for me to enjoy a sport – ice-skating. Maybe I’m just one of those who take a little longer than everyone else to learn. Just like the time I was learning to swim. I was the last one in my section to learn how to float and had to have my instructor guide me on a one-on-one basis.

The only thing I’m worried about is the skills test that is coming up next week. I have barely mastered the techniques that will be test. I managed to do backward swizzles today, but I’m still rather wobbly. For some reason, I can’t seem to find my balance to do a one-foot glide. I still can’t do a snowplow stop and obviously pumps on a circle. I wanted to practise during the weekend, but I fell sick so I couldn’t go to the ice arena. I don’t want to give up coz I’m having fun (although I’m the last one), but I don’t want to end up hurting my GPA too. Deary says to change it to a credit/no credit course. I don’t know…kinda in a dilemma.

curing the shine

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Is there some way to cure my OVERLY oily face? I used to have combination skin with just an oily t-zone, but in recent years my whole face seems to get oily. I think it’s causing my acne/pimple problem. It started a year ago on my forehead, but recently it’s spreading to my cheek. It’s also very disgusting when I wear make-up and my face gets so shiny with oil. I try to blot as often as I can, but I don’t think it really helps much. Kinda jealous when I look at girls who put on make-up and look flawless even at the end of the day.

I’m already using a facial cleanser for oily skin so I don’t know what else I can do.

since coming home

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Wow, the last time I updated my blog was in April. Well, I’m now back in Singapore for the summer holiday, living my other life. I pretty much got used to the life in USA that I felt a little disoriented when I came home. The culture, environment, and mannerism of people are all different.

Backtracking a little…the last few days of school in mid-May was spent finishing up projects and papers. The day before leaving Champaign, deary and I were packing up all our stuff in the apartment, moving them to my aunt’s place, and cleaning up the apartment for return. Cleaning up the apartment took longer than what we had expected. Among the Singaporeans staying in Goodwin-Stoughton, our apartment was probably the neatest and cleanest to begin with. It’s not like we held parties and trashed the place. We probably didn’t need to clean up that much, but we were afraid that Ramshaw would dump a huge cleaning bill on us. In the end, I think we returned the apartment cleaner than what was given to us when we just moved it.

Finished cleaning the apartment at midnight, that left us with only a few hours to pack our bags for home. Packing bags to go home has always been a pain for me simply coz I have too much barang. Got at least a few hours of sleep. Definitely not enough, but at least better than nothing.

We left for San Francisco. The few days there was quite an experience. We cycled twice over the Golden Gate bridge coz I was so slow that we missed the last ferry back. 😥 I got scolded a few times coz I was pretty lousy at controlling the bicycle and I had no strength to cycle uphill. The last time I cycled was probably in Secondary school and even so, I’m definitely not a good cyclist. I ended up feeling sore all over. The next day, we did a lot of walking. A LOT. I think the trip was probably the only time I ever did do that much exercise.

Now that I’m back home, I somehow feel a little disoriented. It’s like totally living another life. There’s like too much “chaos” around me that I miss the quiet life in USA. No doubt I enjoy the food here, but I definitely do not enjoy the weather. I can’t even step out for a few minutes without feeling hot and sticky all over. I NEED THE AIRCON ON 24/7!

I got internship as I planned. Not too bad, but definitely not what I had expected. Perhaps my poly internship was too slack and this is the REAL DEAL. My first day ended quite badly. Not that the people were mean and all, but I myself felt overwhelmed and wondered if I could deliver what was expected of me. I hate it when people think too highly of me. It gives me pressure to perform well and not screw up. And I AM worried about screwing up. I don’t like to shortchange people. When I work, I expect to contribute something so that the boss will think that he/she hired the right person. Thank God I had deary to cheer me up.

The thing about working is that I end up feeling so tired everyday that I don’t even have much time for leisure activities. Worse, my current workplace is far from home. I end up having to wake up at 6am everyday. Makes me miss studying. Then when I’m studying, I’ll feel like wanting to work coz then I can earn money. Yea yea…the grass is always greener on the other side.

Oh well, I’m going to make good of this internship and ask all those nagging questions I have. I don’t care if they are the simplest questions and they make me sound stupid. If I don’t ask, I’ll never learn.

My weekends are damn precious now. It’s my only time with deary since both of us are working.